1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that is provided with a recovery device which recovers mist arising from a liquid discharged from a printing unit.
2. Related Art
In the related art, a printing apparatus 100 illustrated in FIG. 17 is known as an example of this type of printing apparatus.
In the printing apparatus 100, a recovery device 130 is disposed in the vicinity of a printing unit 120 and the recovery device 130 suctions mist by means of a fan 131 after the mist is generated from a liquid (ink) that is discharged from the printing unit 120 to a medium PR transported by a transport drum 110. A recovery container 132 of the recovery device 130 accommodates the fan 131 and a filter 133 placed upstream of the fan 131. The recovery device 130 suctions the mist from a suction port 134 formed in the recovery container 132 and recovers the mist by means of the filter 133 by driving the fan 131.
In this recovery device 130, the mist is likely to adhere to the filter 133, and thus the filter 133 is likely to be subjected to clogging and the mist suction force of the fan 131 is likely to decline.
A recovery device in which mist is unlikely to adhere to a filter is conceivable in solving this problem (refer to, for example, JP-A-2013-180539). As an example thereof, a recovery device 230 of a printing apparatus 200 illustrated in FIG. 18 is provided with a suction unit 231 that suctions mist arising from ink discharged from a printing unit 220 to a medium PR transported by a transport drum 210, a recovery unit 232 that recovers the mist, and a hose-shaped outlet portion 233 that allows the suction unit 231 and the recovery unit 232 to communicate with each other. A fan 234 is disposed in the recovery unit 232. A filter 235 is disposed upstream of the fan 234 in the recovery unit 232, and a recovery container 236 to which the outlet portion 233 is connected is disposed upstream of the filter 235. A plurality of vertical walls 237 alternating with each other and an absorbing material 238 absorbing the mist are disposed in the recovery container 236.
As the fan 234 is driven in the recovery device 230, a suction force is generated to the suction unit 231 via the outlet portion 233. Accordingly, the mist between the printing unit 220 and the transport drum 210 is suctioned by the suction unit 231 and is recovered by the recovery unit 232 through the outlet portion 233.
In the printing apparatus 200 that is illustrated in FIG. 18, the recovery container 236 and the vertical walls 237 are placed upstream of the filter 235 along a flow path of the mist, and thus the mist recovered from the outlet portion 233 to the recovery container 236 adheres to the vertical walls 237 and the inner wall of the recovery container 236 before reaching the filter 235. As a result, the mist is unlikely to adhere to the filter 235, and thus a decline in mist recovery performance is more suppressed than in the printing apparatus 100 that is illustrated in FIG. 17.
Because the distances between the adjacent vertical walls 237 are equal to each other as illustrated in FIG. 18, however, the passage cross-sectional areas of the flow paths are equal to each other and the mist has a constant speed during its movement in the recovery container 236. Accordingly, a deviation in terms of mist adhesion amount increases between the plurality of vertical walls 237 and the inner wall of the recovery container 236, and mist adhesion is less likely to occur on the inner wall of the recovery container 236 and the vertical walls 237 where the amount of mist adhesion is large. As a result, the mist is likely to reach the filter 235, and there is room for improvement in this regard.